


Afterwards

by ClockworkDinosaur



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Doomed Timelines, F/F, Sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 17:02:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8335483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkDinosaur/pseuds/ClockworkDinosaur
Summary: "Try and remember.""I don't think I want to."





	

**Author's Note:**

> who needs summaries when i can just directly quote something from the fic amiright?
> 
> anyway i forgot i wrote this, consider it the Rosemary companion piece to Doomed

You wake up when the sunlight against your eyelids is too much to ignore any longer. You squint into the midday sky, shapes taking form in your bleary vision to see that Kanaya is above you, eyes wide.

“Rose,” she breathes, kneeling next to you. You smile, sitting up and hugging Kanaya. A brief pause and she's hugging you tightly, your shirt gripped in her fist as she clutches you close.

“Sorry, I must have fallen asleep on our date,” you say apologetically. “I suppose the odd hours I've been keeping recently have caught up to me.”

Kanaya nods slowly. “It's fine, no reason for you to apologize.” She smiles and gets comfortable on the grass beside you, basking in the sunlight. The grass around you is green and fragrant, stretching to a distant treeline. The breeze teases the hair around your face and brings the scent of faraway flowers. Laying back down, you rest your head in her lap and she begins stroking your hair.

Sighing contentedly, you let your mind wander and your eyes slip closed as you enjoy the moment. You chide yourself internally for falling asleep after you invited her...

Or had Kanaya invited you out today?

Out where?

Opening your eyes, you see Kanaya looking down at you with a sorrowful expression.

“Rose,” she says softly as your heart thuds a funeral beat against your ribcage.

“Where are we?” you ask.

“Don't you remember?” she says, golden eyes searching your face. “Try and remember.”

“I don't think I want to,” you say wearily, but vague memories still come to mind unbidden. Fighting. Lava. Fire.

Disintegration.

The pain of a trident through the chest. A woozy conversation with your mother, full of regret that hurt worse than your wounds as you bled to death.

You shake your head as the memories take form and your hands tremble as you stand, looking around you at the idyllic scene that suddenly seems as solid as a movie set.

“It's fake, isn't it,” you say. Kanaya stands and you glance at her, the dull white of her eyes the only answer you need.

“I'm sorry,” she whispers.

“You didn't-” you start, before she raises a hand to stop you.

“I'm sorry I didn't just tell you where we were. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you goodbye or that I love you or anything like that before everything happened.” She lets out a harsh breath and looks away. “I'm sorry that a part of me is happy to see you here,” she says quietly. “Not to see you dead of course, I'm also sorry to see you here as well, but regret and relief are both very prominent emotions right now and I-”

You cut her off with your lips on hers, only a quick kiss that stops her words.

“I understand,” you say. “In these circumstances, the only bright spot right now is you. If I had woken up alone here, I'm sure remembering would have been unbearable.”

Kanaya pulls you close and you bury your face in her shirt, too numb to cry but tears seeming to build up in the back of your throat.

“I watched you die,” you say in a weak voice. “I watched The Condesce vaporize you. I was hell-bent on revenge.” You pause. “I don't think I planned to survive my attack on her.”

“Oh, Rose no,” Kanaya says, dread making her tone heavy. “Please tell me you didn't intentionally cause your own demise. You could still be alive right now. You didn't have to avenge me or any such nonsense.”

“I was going to take down the sea-witch myself or die trying,” you say. “And it seems the latter outcome is what ended up happening.”

Kanaya squeezes you tighter. “I wish you hadn't. I wish you had stayed alive. I'm so sorry,” she says, voice wavering a bit.

“I think this was going to happen anyway,” you say slowly after a brief pause, the realization forming in your head. “If it wasn't The Condesce that killed us, it would have been something else later on.” You look up at her with a humorless smile. “We, along with our entire timeline, were doomed.”

Kanaya's eyes were wide. “How do you know?”

You take a step back from her and begin pacing in the grass. “I should have seen this sooner,” you say, mostly to yourself. “Why didn't I _See_ this? Perhaps I was so confident in the fact that we were indeed in the Alpha timeline that I just didn't look far enough ahead.”

“Do not start blaming yourself for this,” Kanaya warns. “It seems to me that this is Serket's doing.”

“The ancestor,” you muse. “Yes, it seems that once she interfered things began changing...” You clench your fists. “Why didn't I consider this sooner?”

“How could you have known?” Kanaya asks.

“I _should_ have!” you say, voice raised. “I should have just... _known!_ I was the Seer, I should have known this was coming, wh-why didn't I see this coming?” you say, your angry tirade shortened by the sobs that had been delayed before. Kanaya takes your face in her hands and looks you in the eyes, the disturbing blankness only making you feel worse.

“Listen to me,” she says, and there's fire in her voice that seems to resonate in your chest. “You are not to blame for this, Rose Lalonde. You couldn't have done anything, you said it yourself. We were doomed.”

Tears roll unchecked down your cheeks and you give a single nod as she stares you down. You take a deep breath and try and gather yourself.

“If we're here... do you think there are others?” you ask. Kanaya looks pained.

“Karkat may be around. Gamzee too presumably, and I will not hesitate to cut that bastard in half again if I do see him,” she says with enough venom in her voice to almost scare you.

“I think we should try and find Karkat,” you say. “This can't be any easier for him than it is for us. Perhaps we can find out about... any others as well.”

With a nod, Kanaya takes your hand, gives it a light squeeze, and the two of you head towards the trees to try and find the rest of your dead friends.

 


End file.
